Portal:Spaceflight/Selected article/Week 41 2008

Space Launch Complex-6 (SLC-6, nicknamed "Slick Six") at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was a launch pad and support area designed for the launching of the Titan III in support of the cancelled Manned Orbiting Laboratory and later for the Space Shuttle, for which it was never used, due to budget and political considerations.

It was briefly used by Athena rockets in the late 1990s, and has since been remodified to support the Delta IV family of unmanned launchers. Launches from SLC-6 fly southward into a polar orbit, not eastward as were typical launches from Florida.

Since polar orbits can allow full global coverage on a regular basis, they are often used for earth-mapping-, earth observation- and reconnaissance satellites, as well as some weather satellites. However, polar orbits require more energy than a typical eastward launch, due to not benefiting from the earth's rotational speed. Achieving a polar orbit from a Florida launch site is possible, but because of large populated areas both North and South of Kennedy Space Center, necessitating a "dog leg" route for launches to polar orbits, greatly reducing payload capacity due to the extra propellant required. (more...)